Part 1 - On pain and exhaustion—an analogy

Q. 1. Indeed, Bhante, is one with great pain (due to bondage) also one with great exhaustion (of karma)? Is one with great exhaustion also one with great pain? And between one with great pain and one with little pain, is one with a wide exhaustion superior¹?

A. 1. Gautama! It is as you have said.

Q. 2. Bhante! Are the infernal beings in the sixth and the seventh hells with great pain?

A. 2. Yes, they are with great pain.

Q. 3. Bhante! Are they (the internals) with a greater exhaustion than a śramaṇa monk?

A. 3. Gautama! This is not acceptable.

Q. 4. Bhante! Why do you say so that one with great pain,... till superior²?

A. 4. Gautama! Suppose there are two pieces of cloth. One of these is soaked in mud, and the other one in the dirt of the wheel. Now, tell me, Gautama, which one of these two pieces of cloth is more difficult to clean, more difficult to make stain-free, and more difficult to brighten? And which one of these two is easier to clean, to make stain-free, to brighten—the one soaked in mud, or the one stained by the wheel dirt?

—Bhante! The one soaked in mud is more difficult to clean, to make stain-free, to brighten.

—Gautama! In the same manner, sinful activities of the infernal beings are thickened, affixed grease-like, mixed up and ineradicable. So, despite their experiencing great pain, they are neither with great exhaustion, nor with great termination.

Just as a man while striking on an anvil with great sound and with repeated strokes, is unable to destroy the coarse matter of the said anvil, in the same manner, the sinful activities of the infernal beings are thickened,... till do not lead to great termination.

(—And which one of the two pieces of cloth is easier to clean, to make stain-free, to brighten?)

—Bhante! Of the two pieces of cloth, the one stained with wheel dirt is easier to clean, to make stain-free, to brighten.

—Likewise, Gautama, the coarse covers of karma of a śramaṇa monks are loosened, and āre rendered without substance a|nd without effect. So they get undermined very soon. Whatever be the pain experienced by a śramaṇa monk, he is with a great exhaustion, a great termination. Gautama! If one throws a handful of hay in the blazing fire, is not the handful of hay so thrown into the fire burnt up?

—Yes, sir, it does.

—Likewise, Gautama, with the coarse covers of karma,... till with great termination. Or, if a man pours drops of water on a hot iron ball,...till (these drops) meet with their end. In the same way, the śramaṇa monk,...till with great termination. It is for this that a monk who is with great pain and with great exhaustion,...till superior.

Notes (based on commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri):

1. Mahāvedanā and mahānirjarā are technical terms. When due to specific cause(s), the intensity of pain increases, as it may happen in the case of the infernal beings, then these are said to be with ‘great pain’. When karma is exhausted in a special manner, as in the case of a monk who uses a conscious process to exhaust it, it is called mahānirjarā.

The statement ‘one with great pain is also one with great exhaustion’ may be true of certain categories of beings, and not of all categories of beings. For instance, it does not apply to the infernal beings living in the sixth and the seventh hells who are with great pain but without exhaustion. Likewise, the statement ‘one with great exhaustion is also one with great pain’ may be true of certain categories of beings, and is not universally true. For instance, the omniscient is with great exhaustion but without pain.

2. Mahānirjarā and mahāparyavasāna would go together. With great termination of karma bondage, there is great termination of rebirth.